In wood frame building construction, the exterior walls of such a building usually include vertical wood studs spaced apart a selected distance, vertically spaced horizontal backing wires extending longitudinally along the exterior faces of the studs and attached thereto, a bituminous saturated kraft paper applied over the wire and the exterior faces of the studs, stucco wire netting having relatively large open spaces secured to the studs and loosely overlying the exterior surface of the bituminous paper, and a base coat of plaster or stucco applied to the surfaces of the paper with portions of the chicken wire embedded in the base stucco coat. Present day methods of applying a base coat of stucco include power spraying of the stucco material against the exterior surface of the sheathing paper. The backing wires provide a line contact against the studs and the interior surface of the paper. The backing wire and the paper controls and meters the application of stucco material. A finishing or top coat of stucco or plaster is applied to the base coat after the preliminary rough stucco has dried. In such wall construction the installation of the backing wire, kraft paper, and stucco wire netting are separate installation steps. The stucco wire netting is awkward to handle because of its stiffness and resistance to unwinding from a roll. The normal installation methods for a wall construction involving stucco or plaster are time consuming, material handling is awkward, and labor costs are high.
The wall construction as mentioned above has been in use for many years without major improvements in the wall construction or method of installation thereof. The materials involved have been relatively heavy, difficult and awkward to apply to vertical surfaces, and labor costs in handling such material have been high because of the separate steps of applying the backing wire, applying the sheathing paper, and then applying the stucco wire netting.